Wind chill in my upper Midwest area of the US today is minus 11 degrees F. ( -24 degrees C ). Chicago, Illinois, is getting up to 16 inches of heavy, blizzard driven snow and this system will be moving into the New England on Monday Feb. 02 where over 35 inches of snow fell within the past 10 days. There will be so much snow in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, tomorrow that the city officials may not be able to locate Phil, the groundhog's burrow... for US Groundhog Day.

Staff MemberSenior Moderator

Wind chill in my upper Midwest area of the US today is minus 11 degrees F. ( -24 degrees C ). Chicago, Illinois, is getting up to 16 inches of heavy, blizzard driven snow and this system will be moving into the New England on Monday Feb. 02 where over 35 inches of snow fell within the past 10 days. There will be so much snow in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, tomorrow that the city officials may not be able to locate Phil, the groundhog's burrow... for US Groundhog Day.

In our 'wintering' area, we own a snowthrower that has a 25 inch by 25 inch (64 cm by 64 cm) front chute with an auger and discharge impeller powered by a 10 horsepower engine that will throw the snow up to 40 feet ( 12 meters ) away.

The county and city have a fleet of 49 snowplows mounted on large dump trucks that also have a brine and road salt dispenser on the rear. And even with this equipment available, they get overwhelmed at times and roads become impassable.

We have four seasons in the upper Midwest of the USA - June, July, August and Winter.